Follow Us

The Truth About Conference Calls: Survey Shows People Zone Out

If you’re on a conference call while you’re reading this post, you’re like most people zoning out during conference calls.

According to a new survey conducted by Intercall, more than one-quarter of participants admitted they have fallen asleep during a virtual meeting. Other respondents revealed they’ve made other calls, snacked, exercised and played video games.

Apparently 47 percent of respondents have said — get this — they have actually gone to the restroom during a call! And even if you’ve been among the faithful listeners sitting at your desk, chances are you got distracted by emails, texts or the internet.

The majority of participants use a landline but about one-fifth of respondents mentioned they spend minutes on mobile phones by dialing into conference calls, all the more reason to literally be mobile when taking the call remotely.

Case in point: As mentioned in the piece, the InterCall survey revealed that 13 percent of participants have been “outed” by taking a call somewhere they claimed to be when they were really located somewhere else.

Maybe calls aren’t as productive as big bosses seem to think? They key to effective calls are ensuring there’s an agenda, sticking to it and being succinct to value everyone’s time. Make each call pack a punch and there will be less of an opportunity for people to zone out. Better yet — when calls are engaging and every person has to speak up at some point, chances are there’s less of a shot of playing a video game.